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Saturday, March 24, 2018

This week, StLJN's video spotlight shines on The Baylor Project, who will be making their St. Louis debut starting next Wednesday, March 28 through Saturday, March 31 at Jazz at the Bistro.

Fronted by singer Jean Baylor and drummer Marcus Baylor, her husband and a native of the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson, they released their first album The Baylor Project (The Journey) in 2017 and were nominated for Grammy Awards this year in the categories of Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance.

Previously, Marcus had been known for his work as a member of the jazz-fusion band Yellowjackets from 2000 to 2010, while Jean, using her maiden name Jean Norris, sang with Zhané, the hip-hop/soul duo known for 1990s hits such as "Hey, Mr. DJ" and "Groove Thang" and later had released a couple of solo albums.

The music they make as The Baylor Project draws on those varied influences, blending contemporary jazz with R&B/soul and adding a bit of gospel flavor, which seems fitting for a couple of preachers' kids. But rather than read further description, you can see and hear for yourself in the first clip up above, a performance of their Grammy-nominated song "Laugh and Move On" recorded in November 2017 at the studios of radio station WERS in Boston.

After the jump, you can see them play Herbie Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story," with original lyrics by Jean Baylor, and Mongo Santamaría's "Afro Blue," as recorded in January of this year in the studios of WBGO in Newark, NJ.

The last three videos were recorded in the music room at South Restaurant in Philadelphia, circa February 2017, and feature the Baylors performing their interpretations of the well-known hymn "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" and the standards "Tenderly" and "Our Love Is Here To Stay."